Mapping out the Journey

So, I've taken a bit of heat on Facebook when I revealed that I had started reading a book that blended creative writing and yoga. It would seem that the majority of my friends are unable (or unwilling) to see the connection between the two. But in their defense, I had purchased this book years ago (in 2004) and tried to start reading it back then (and even once since then) but I guess I wasn't "ready" for it, because both times I couldn't get past the first few pages.

But you know the old saying, "When the student is ready the Master will appear." I must be ready now, and I tell you, this book is awesome.

To many it might seem odd to blend a physical activity, such as yoga (and to all those who are disciples of yoga--I know! I know! Yoga is more spiritual than it is physical...but bear with me) with creative writing, which is largely mental (and again, to all those who are writers know that writing is so much more than what takes place in the brain...but bear with me). It is this blending of the breath, body, mind, and spirit. I have always been a believer that the mind, body, and spirit are closely connected (I might even say that they are "One"), and when you affect one, for good or bad, the others are affected, too. So it was a familiar voice that spoke to me from this book when the connection was made with specific emphasis on writing.

"If you do not breathe correctly, you do not move correctly." So said Chuin, the Master of Sinanju, and it has been a concept that I have believed in for years. Thus far (I am only in chapter 3) this book has given great instruction and yoga suggestions for calming the mind, centering the body and making a real difference in my own writing practice and routine. I seem to be more of a "hands on" learner, and when I can blend the physical to help the mental or spiritual, I tend to learn better and modify my behaviors to better reach my goals. I have started to take a long look at my intentions for writing, being better about scheduling it and making a regular appointment with my muse (this was the key, by the way, to how I was able to write Lifted Up--every day at my lunch hour the words would flow fast and furious for exactly one hour and then dry up, only to return the next day during lunch--it was really odd until I understood the importance of routine and regularity). This book is really helping me map out my journey toward my dream of writing full time.

So to all you naysayers out there, those who believe only in traditional (and perhaps outdated) instruction, I would encourage you to suspend your disbelief, if even for a minute, and consider that there may be more to this world and the way we operate within it than meets the eye.

...so let it be done.

Not So "Lost"...

OK, I'll be the first one to admit that I have been somewhat of a slacker these past few weeks. I login daily, see the current (past) post, get to work, and then forget about it (or just run out of steam by the end of the day). But if anything could get me off my proverbial "duff" and back sharing my (admittedly odd) ideas, it is the network television show that I am "hooked" on: Lost.

For those of you don't know me well enough, we started watching Lost at the beginning of Season 2. But before it started we borrowed Season 1 from the Library and watched all 7 DVDs in one week, often staying up until 1 or 2am (...quick look at the clock...it's not quite 1am...we got time for one more...). I absolutely LOVED the twists and the tangling of the passengers' lives, and then there was the mysterious "monster" in the jungle and those whispering "others"--I was in TV heaven!

Then they revealed the Dharma Initiative, and met Ben and his band of "others", who weren't really that different from the passengers, all except for that Richard guy, and Lost began to "lose" me. But by then I was a Lost junkie and couldn't quit if I wanted to.

Seasons 3, 4, and now 5 passed with usually a frustrated feeling but a hope that next week I'd learn something I could use to help me figure out what the heck was going on.

But then the Season Finale offered up a small sip of water to whet my insatiable thirst that had been building for nearly three years, and I think (I hope) I see where it might all be going.

First, years ago when the Internet was buzzing with theories on where, exactly, the survivors of Oceanic 815 were and what the island really was, I was particularly fond of the theory that the "survivors" had actually died in the crash and that the island was a place like purgatory where the passengers were given a chance to prove whether they were good or bad and that when they "died" on the island they moved on to their respective eternal rewards, either heaven or hell. But then they introduced the Hatch, the computers, the Dharma Initiative, people coming and going to the island via submarine, and that was the end of that theory.

Or was it?

So the Season Finale beings with two men speaking with each other on the beach. In the distance is a masted ship (we assume it's the one "beached" in the middle of the jungle). One of the men (Jacob) is wearing a white shirt the other is wearing black. At first listen, their conversation would suggest that Jacob (wearing white) is good while the other (wearing black) is evil ("Do you know how bad I want to kill you?"), but if you listen to their brief exchange, it would appear that Jacob is actually the bad one, and the events of the show confirm it.

At first it appears that Jacob was showing up in the past of many of the survivors lives and, at first glance anyway, seems to help them--but it is not help. As a child, Kate had stolen a lunchbox and got caught by the store owner. He was about to call her mother when Jacob shows up and buys the lunchbox--no harm, no foul, and the store owner doesn't make that call. A good thing, right? Wrong. If her mother had been called and if Kate had experienced the consequence of stealing when she was young she may not have been on the run and later on that plane in handcuffs. And then when Sawyer was a boy at his mother's funeral his pen runs out of ink while he is writing that fateful "revenge" letter to the killer. Jacob appears and gives him another pen. Again, a nice thing to do, right? Wrong. If he had never finished that letter he wouldn't have turned out the way he did and end up on that island, as well. Jacob is the bad guy!

So, returning to my not being so "lost" anymore, if Jacob and the man in black are god-like beings (as they are presented in the episode), and this is all some kind of eternal struggle between them, using humans as pawns, or at least watching how them to prove our worth in the grand scheme of things, this at least makes some sense.

I know it's not much, but it's something, and at this point I'm so starved for answers that even the hint of an answer will carry me through the summer and fall and into what I understand is going to be the last season.

Here's to hope...

...So let it be done.